Carrier tape structure

ABSTRACT

A carrier tape structure including a belt-shaped tape body, a plurality of carrier boxes, and a plurality of protruding ribs is provided. The carrier boxes are disposed separately on the tape body, and the protruding ribs are in strip shape and are disposed between the carrier boxes. The material around the protruding ribs has lower strength so that the tape body can be bent along the peripheries of the protruding ribs. A plurality of chains is disposed along two sides of the tape body, and the chains can be hung onto a winding machine so that the carrier tape structure can be winded on the winding machine without damaging the carrier boxes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to a carrier tape structure, in particular, to a carrier tape structure which can be winded without breaking and easy to be fabricated.

2. Description of Related Art

A windable carrier tape is usually used for collecting and transmitting mass-produced electronic components. An “improved SMT carrier tape structure” is disclosed in Taiwan utility model patent No. M282969. FIG. 1 is a top view of a conventional carrier tape structure in Taiwan utility model patent No. M282969. Referring to FIG. 1, the carrier tape structure 1 includes a tape body 10, a unit carrier box 11, and a “break” structure 12 for eliminating the bending stress and flexibility of the tape body 10. Such break structures can be categorized into flat U-shaped breaks, dotted line breaks, flat and long holes, and a row of triangle holes according to their geometrical shapes. However, the main purpose of the break structure 12 is to form a break-like structure on the tape body 10 regardless of the geometrical shape thereof.

The tape body 10 is made of a flexible plastic slab material and is in a long strip shape. The carrier boxes 11 having a particular height are disposed on the tape body 10 for accommodating electronic parts, and then the electronic parts are effectively collected by winding the tape body 10. Usually, to dispose the carrier boxes 11 on the tape body 10, the tape body 10 is first heated to be softened, and then the carrier boxes 11 deformed in the direction of the height or the depth of the tape body 10 are fabricated on the tape body 10.

In the conventional technique described in Taiwan utility model patent No. M282969, when the tape body 10 is winded, the deformation of the material around the break structure 12 is increased under the bending stress, and meanwhile, since the carrier boxes 11 on the tape body 10 have a particular height or depth, the deformation of the carrier boxes 11 under the bending stress is less than that of the material around the break structure 12. Thus, the deformation of the carrier boxes 11 is reduced, and accordingly, the deformation of the electronic parts due to the deformation of the tape body 10 is avoided.

However, the carrier tape structure in the conventional technique described above is very complicated to fabricate. Besides, the strength of the material around the break structure 12 of the tape body 10 is reduced so that the carrier boxes 11 may be easily broken while the tape body 10 is winded or bended, which is very disadvantageous in the actual application and has to be improved.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a carrier tape structure which is easy to be fabricated.

The present invention is directed to a carrier tape structure with lower probability of being broken.

The present invention provides a carrier tape structure including a belt-shaped tape body, a plurality of carrier boxes, and a plurality of protruding ribs. The carrier boxes are disposed separately on the tape body and protrude a particular height from a surface of the tape body, and each of the carrier boxes can accommodates an component. The protruding ribs also protrude from the tape body but are not for accommodating components. The protruding ribs are used for intensifying the mechanical strength of the tape body and are disposed between the carrier boxes. Because the bending stress produced by winding the tape body is distributed on the surface of the tape body and the carrier boxes and the protruding ribs protrude from the surface of the tape body, the material of the tape body around the carrier boxes and the protruding ribs is supported and accordingly is deformed less therefore the mechanical strength of the material of the tape body excluding the protruding ribs is lower than that of the material of the protruding ribs. Accordingly, when the tape body is bent or winded, the material of the tape body excluding the carrier boxes or the protruding ribs is deformed by the bending stress to a large extent, so that the deformation of the carrier boxes when the tape body is winded or bent is reduced.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of chains is disposed on the tape body, and the chains can be hung on an automatic machine so that the carrier tape can be winded, stretched, or moved by the automatic machine, wherein the automatic machine is a winding machine for automatically winding the carrier tape, and the chains can be square holes, round holes, elliptical holes, triangular holes, polygonal holes, or other types of geometrical holes.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the carrier tape structure further includes a sealing film which is completely attached to the tape body and covers the openings of the carrier boxes so as to prevent the components in the carrier boxes from escaping the carrier boxes.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the carrier boxes and the protruding ribs are located on the same surface of the tape body.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the carrier boxes and the protruding ribs are respectively located on different surfaces of the tape body.

As described above, the carrier tape structure provided by the present invention has simple structure and is easy to be fabricated. Besides, the “break structure” in the conventional technique is not applied in the present invention, so that the possibility of the carrier tape structure is broken during the winding or transmission procedure is reduced, and accordingly the reliability of the carrier tape structure is increased.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a top view of a conventional carrier tape structure.

FIG. 2 is a top view of a carrier tape structure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a carrier tape structure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 are respectively a top view and a side view of a carrier tape structure according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to both FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the carrier tape structure 2 includes a belt-shaped tape body 20, a plurality of carrier boxes 21, and a plurality of protruding ribs 23. The carrier boxes 21 are separately disposed on a surface of the tape body 20, and the protruding ribs 23 are in strip shape and are disposed between the carrier boxes 21. The strength of the material surrounding the protruding ribs 23 is lower than that of the material of the carrier boxes 21 or the protruding ribs 23, thus, the tape body 20 can be bent along the protruding ribs 23.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the carrier tape structure 2 may further include a plurality of chains 22 disposed continuously along two sides in a direction of a width of the tape body 20. The chains 22 can be hung onto an automatic machine, for example, a winding machine (not shown), and one by one to wind the carrier tape structure 2 onto the winding machine (not shown) without damaging the carrier boxes 21. In addition, the carrier tape structure 2 provided by the present invention may also be stretched or moved by a winding machine (not shown) in the automatic fabrication.

To wind the carrier tape ideally, the carrier tape structure 2 in the present invention is made of flexible slab materials, preferably, flexible plastic materials. Only small spaces are kept between the protruding ribs 23 and the carrier boxes 21 separately disposed on the tape body 20 to keep the bending angle of the tape body 20 within a tolerable range and accordingly to prevent the carrier boxes 21 from being damaged while winding the carrier tape.

Generally, the carrier boxes 21 are formed on the tape body 20 with flexible plastic materials through thermoforming, and the protruding ribs 23 can be formed together with the carrier boxes 21. Thus, compared to the conventional technique, wherein flat U-shaped breaks, dotted line breaks, flat and long holes, and a row of triangle holes are formed on the tape body 20 as “break structure” after the carrier boxes 21 have been formed thereon, the carrier tape structure 2 provided by the present invention is easier to be fabricated. In the present embodiment, when the tape body 20 is winded, the bending stress on the tape body 20 is distributed in the area excluding the carrier boxes 21 and the protruding ribs 23 and accordingly the strength of the material around the protruding ribs 23 is relatively lower than that of the protruding ribs 23 or the carrier boxes 21, thus, the carrier boxes 21 are prevented from being damaged during the winding procedure and accordingly are not deformed as easily as in the conventional technique. On the other hand, the protruding ribs 23 are different from the break structure in the conventional technique. The high strength of the protruding ribs 23 can increase the reliability of the carrier tape structure 2 so that the carrier tape structure 2 will not be broken during repeated winding and transmission procedures.

It can be understood by those skilled in the art that the purpose of disposing the protruding ribs 23 between the carrier boxes 21 of the tape body 20 is to change the distribution of the bending stress supplied to the surface of the tape body 20 while winding the tape body 20, thus, even though the protruding ribs 23 and the carrier boxes 21 are all disposed on a surface of the tape body 20 and all have a particular height. However, the protruding ribs 23 do not have to be disposed on the same surface of the tape body 20 as the carrier boxes 21, as shown in FIG. 2, to serve their purpose. Thereby, even the protruding ribs 23 and the carrier boxes 21 are disposed on different surfaces of the tape body 20, it is still within the scope of the present invention as long as the protruding ribs 23 are used for changing the distribution of bending stress on the tape body 20.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the chains 22 are holes arranged continuously and are used for hanging the carrier tape structure 2 on a winding machine (not shown). The chains 22 are used for hanging the carrier tape structure 2 on the winding machine tightly so that the winding machine can automatically wind the tape body 20 with the chains 22. Accordingly, it is easily understood by those skilled in the art that the shape of the chains 22 can be square holes, round holes, elliptical holes, triangular holes, or other types of geometrical holes for matching with the automatic winding machine.

In the present embodiment, the carrier boxes 21 are used for accommodating components (not shown), and with appropriate design (such as a tenon, a wedging opening, a groove and a wedging groove etc.) of the carrier boxes 21, the components (not shown) can be prevented from escaping the carrier tape structure 2 during the winding or transmission procedure. Preferably, a sealing film 24 is provided for covering the openings of the carrier boxes 21. The sealing film 24 is adhered to the carrier boxes 21 by melting parts of the sealing film 24 through thermo-compression and adhering the sealing film 24 to the tape body 20, or by adhering the sealing film 24 to the tape body 20 with adhesive directly, so that the components (not shown) are enveloped between the sealing film 24 and the carrier boxes 21. In addition, with various geometrical designs of the carrier boxes 21, the components (not shown) can be controlled to move within small spaces so that the possibility of the components (not shown) being damaged during transportation or operation can be reduced.

As described above, in the present invention, the problem of “break structure” in the conventional technique is resolved. The protruding ribs can be formed through stamping therefore the material thereof has high strength, and the tape body around the protruding ribs has lower strength. Such design helps to maintain the strength of the carrier tape structure and can prevent the carrier boxes from being damaged, thus, the carrier tape structure in the present invention will not be broken during operation and accordingly has high reliability.

On the other hand, the carrier tape structure provided by the present invention has simple design therefore it is easy to be fabricated and has low fabrication cost.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents. 

1. A carrier tape structure, comprising: a tape body in belt-shape, fabricated of a flexible slab material, the entire tape body being windable; a plurality of carrier boxes, disposed separately on the tape body and protruding a particular height from a surface of the tape body, wherein each of the carrier boxes is used to accommodate an component; and a plurality of protruding ribs, protruding from the tape body, and being disposed between the carrier boxes; wherein when the tape body is winded, the tape body is substantially deformed in the area excluding the carrier boxes and the protruding ribs.
 2. The carrier tape structure according to claim 1, wherein the tape body is made of flexible plastic materials.
 3. The carrier tape structure according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of chains is disposed along two sides in a direction of a width of the tape body, and the chains are square holes, round holes, elliptical holes, triangular holes, or polygonal holes.
 4. The carrier tape structure according to claim 1, further comprising at least one sealing film, and the sealing film is completely attached to the tape body and covers the openings of the carrier boxes.
 5. The carrier tape structure according to claim 4, wherein the sealing film is adhered to the tape body with adhesive.
 6. The carrier tape structure according to claim 1, wherein the protruding ribs are formed on the tape body and are located on the same surface of the tape body as the carrier boxes.
 7. The carrier tape structure according to claim 1, wherein the protruding ribs are formed on the tape body and are located on different surfaces of the tape body as the carrier boxes. 